Movie Pitch 101

Being an avid film geek, I watch (more like consume ;-p) movies like a starved ship-wrecked person who had his first proper meal after years stuck on an island.

I've watched countless movies from multiple genres and with all those hours of movie watching, I can't help but come up with stories of my own.

I dream in pictures and sound and if I can find a way to put those dreams to film, I can make them a reality to be shared with other ppl. Well that's my dream to achieve eventually somehow.

For now, I'm just a film geek that have all these ideas stuck in my head, bursting to come out. So where else to write them but here in my blog, eh ?

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Today's movie pitch came to me a few weeks back after a certain turn of events made me wish I was something I wasn't. (Sounds confusing right ? Don't fret true believers, just read on and I'll reveal the plot further!)

*Start side note*

In Hollywood, movie producers are constantly busy with the current projects they currently have running, the projects that they are trying to get up and running, and also reviewing projects that they can invest in.

Therefore, Hollywood writers have figured out a novel and fast way of pitching their movies. They use examples of past movies and splice it with others to pitch their project in the shortest time possible. This format also ensures that the essence of the idea is passed on straightaway to the movie producers without them having to go thru the scriptbook. Only if they're interested by the sales pitch would they consider even looking at the script.

Neways, to make it easier for u to understand how this pitching technique works, I'll illustrate a few example of how some Hollywood blockbusters / stinkers might have been pitched:

Species : 'Aliens' meet 'Playboy centerfold model' meet 'softcore porn'

Resident Evil : 'Aliens' meets Zombies

Lord of the Rings : 'Star Wars Trilogy' in RPG fantasy setting

The Mummy : 'Indiana Jones' in Egyptian / post WW1 setting

I guess u get the idea now ?

*End side note*

Movie Pitch 101: 'Freaky Friday' meets 'Big / 13 Goin on 30'

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with these movies, here's a rundown of the basic plot of each movie:

Freaky Friday

The recent Disney movie which reintroduced Lindsay Lohan into the hearts and minds of numerous prepubescent teens and also starred Jamie Lee Curtis as Lindsay's mom. The gist of the story is mom and daughter trade souls for a few days because of a curse / spell (look, i DON"T watch saccharine-sweet Disney movies like this o.k. / or I won't ever admit to watching these kinda movies even under duress, so I might get the actual plot twists wrong).

Neways, they get to experience what it feels like to be the other person and at the end of the movie when they revert back to their own bodies, they have a greater understanding and love for the other person (Aaaahhh...such a Disney movie ending innit ?)

Big

This 80's movie (along with Joe & the Volcano) was the movie that catapulted Tom Hanks from an obscure actor to lead acting roles and eventually the star that he is today.

The basic story is Tom Hanks character is a 14 yr old who has this crush on a 14 yr old girl. However, since girls develop much faster than boys, she is interested in 16 yr old boys and goes out on dates with them. Tom Hanks character (who's still a kid at the start of the movie) finds this exasperating and in a cool twist of fate meets up an automated gypsy wishing maching at a carnival (something like the old coin operated parking meters u can find in the streets of KL).

So he proceeded to put a coin into the machine and wish he was big (saying the line "I wish I was big" multiple times) until the machine pops up a card saying "Your wish is my command" or something to that effect.

The next morning, we see the kid all grown up into a young Tom Hanks (this was after all the 80's, so he must be 20 sumthin). Hijinks soon follow as he realises that he can't stay at home anymore since his own parents doesn't recognize him and mistakes him for a stranger who kidnapped Tom Hank's kid character.

Neways, the now adult Tom Hanks, moves to the big city and ends up working for a big international toy company. Being a kid in an adult body, coming up with cool ideas is no problem for Tom Hanks.

Things get exciting as he experiences the freedom that comes with being an adult from having ur own place, to earning ur own money, etc. And there's an added subplot where the CEO of the company likes Tom Hanks for his child-like nature (doh!) and the innovations he brings to the company, much to the chagrin of the VP who's next in line for the CEO post.

The VP is a right bastard and his girlfriend (who also happens to work at the toy company) decides to leave the VP for Tom Hanks once she sees he is on the way top instead of the VP (see, this movie shows that things in life are never black and white. Everyone has an agenda for what they are doing...much like the adult world in reality).

So despite all this attractions (oh,did I forgot to mention that Tom Hanks' kid character gets to experience sex for the first time with the VP's ex?), Tom Hanks' best friend (a young Sean Astin who will eventually grow up to play Samwise Gamgee in LotR) is there to be a moral anchor for him and tell him how much his family is missing him back home (they still think he got kidnapped).

So which path does Tom Hanks choose ?

To be an adult and continue his new exciting life ? or go back to being a kid ?

I'll leave that to you to go rent out the movie and find out. ;-p

13 Going on 30

This recently released chick flick starring Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo is like a female version of Tom Hanks' Big where Jennifer Garner's 13 yr old girl character wishes to be bigger just so she can hang out with the popular girls at school.

Well faster than you can say,"Be careful of what you wish for, it may come true", Jennifer Garner's character wakes up 17 yrs later as a succesful media exec in one of New York's glossy publishing firms. I'll leave the rest of the plot out as I'm sure you must have seen this mushy chick flick story before with its prerequisite comic dance scene (adults boogyin down to the beat of Michael Jackson's 80's hit Thriller).

All I can say is I just don't like the ending as once you start dabbling with time travel to affect the future, you start breaking down the rules of chick flickdom and entering the realms of Sci Fi.

I mean, if Jennifer Garner's character goes back to make things right (i.e. not grow up into the beeeatch that she is, and start dating Mark Ruffalo's character from the start), what's to say this action wouldn't result in an alternate universe / parallel timeline where Mark Ruffalo's gawky, chubby teenage character NEVER lost the puppy fat and grew up into the yummy Mark Ruffalo ?

(I guess, the heartbreak must have been the impetus for the kid to get thin in the first place).

But then I digress.

Observation Damn...this is turning out to be one LONG post! And I haven't even gotten to discussing my plot yet ?!

O.k. so the idea I got the other day was a mix of all these recurring ideas all three movies had of trading souls and potrayal of differences between adults & children.

Basically rediscovering the myth of being a child / teenager compared to the rules, responsibilites and reality of being an adult.

The Plot:

We meet two people at the start of the movie, Jay and his big brother Kay.

Being orphaned recently, Kay has to be the responsible adult and work to put Jay thru college. Jay who used to be a bright student before their parents died have regressed into a quite, sullen young man who's angry with the cards life has dealt him. His grades are going down and he can't be bothered to continue living his life much to the chagrin of his bigger brother Kay who's bustin his ass off workin two jobs just to put Jay thru higher education. (Kay also experiences separation anxiety from the loss of his parents but does not know how to convey this to his brother)

Add in a subplot of the most popular girl at Jay's college who Kay used to tutor thru high school, which Kay used to be secretly infatuated with (except for the tutor-student relationship which stops Kay from taking things further).

Anyway, midway thru the first arc, Jay and Kay get into a fight over Jay's recurring bad grades and the fight gets bad enough that they start to actually physically trade blows until Kay the adult with the cooler head prevailed and stopped fighting. Words were spoken during the fight which cannot be taken back, anger and anxieties were revealed; a rift had separated the brother's bond.

Only something *magical* could truly bring the brothers back together.

Both brothers go to sleep being resentful of the other and wishing how cool it would be, to be the other person even for one day just to escape their tired, daily grind and maybe prove to the other person that they can do things better or handle events in a more positive manner.

Well, what was it that I said earlier about being careful about what u wish for cos u might just get it?!

*note* I still haven't figured out what plot contrivance would be used to result in the soul-change between the 2 brothers. Voodoo ? Black Magic ? Local Malaysian bomoh ? Maybe even something as hokey as Magic dust ala 13 Going on 30 or a Gypsy wishing machine like Big ? Oriental mystic beliefs ?

Neways, both of them wakes up the next morning in roles-reversed state.

Kay's soul is in Jay's teen body while Jay's soul is in Kay's adult body.

Hijinks and comedy ensues as Jay has free rein of his brother's adult body and decides to use it to have as much fun and freedom that being an adult allows (i.e. driving, coming back as late as possible, etc. I don't know...will figure this out later). However, later also we'll see Jay in Kay's body understand the outcome of not being a responsible adult (i.e. getting fired from Kay's part time job, smashing the car up, running out of money from all the entertainment, having to find income to pay the monthly bills & accident, etc.)

Kay who's now in Jay's teenage body on the other hand finally has the chance to woo the girl he previously tutored as an adult and we see some hijinks as well as the Kay who was a teenager during the 90's tries to adapt to life as a teenager in the Millenium. (everything from learning the current lingo, to dressing, to what activities teens do now --- basically play up on the fish out of water concept as much as possible)

Sigh, I might even add in the prerequisite comic dance scene, only now i'd be a riff of the 90's in the millenium...maybe have Jay (with Kay's soul) perform a Nirvana song hip hop style (hmmm...the possibilities are endless... 'Polly wants a cracker' hip hop style or even Smell's Like Teen Spirit to the beats and thump of drum and bass instead of guitar riffs. ;-p )

So the second arc sees both brothers taking each other's bodies out for a spin and enjoying it without thinking of the consquences. However reality starts hitting them hard and each brother realises how hard it is to be the other person, trying to make their way in the world especially after the loss of their parents (prerequisite Disney teary eyed moment should be included here).

The thrid arc starts once both brothers come to the realization of what it's like to be the other person and the bond of brotherhood is re-linked, the magical spell / voodoo / curse resolves and they find that their souls are back in each other's body.

How ever, I haven't figured out how to solve the love interest sub-plot.

Can Kay stand seeing the girl she fancies now being the girlfriend of his little brother ?

Is there a way to write a resolution to this sub-plot which wouldn't end up freaky ?

I mean this girl has been romanced all this while by Kay in Jay's body, yet now that the role-reversal has ended, how does Kay convince the girl that it's been him all along not Jay ?

I'm stuck at this point currently in my plotting thought-process.... anyone care to give me and ending to this story ?

;-p